1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for protecting a lock arm for connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, to engage a connector with a mating connector, a lock arm is formed on the connector, and a lock slit for receiving the stopper protrusion of the lock arm is formed in the mating connector. Before engagement, however, the wires of wire terminals inserted into the connector are often hooked by the lock arm, which damages the lock arm.
To prevent such damage to the lock arm, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-112180 discloses a lock arm protection structure as shown in FIG. 7.
In this lock arm protection structure, a cantilevered lock arm 62 stands on the upper wall surface 61a of the housing main body 61, and protection walls 63 stand on both sides of the free end of the lock arm 62, as shown in FIG. 7. With this structure, however, the wires of wire terminals (not shown) or a wire harness (not shown) cannot be effectively prevented from being hooked.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-112180 discloses another lock arm protection structure. As shown in FIG. 8, a protection frame 64 stands on the upper wall surface 61a of the housing main body 61, surrounding the free end 62a of the lock arm 62. In this structure, however, a movement range (flexible range) of the free end 62a of the lock arm 62 is restricted by the protection frame 64, which results in poor workability in the unlocking process.
FIG. 9 shows yet another lock arm protection structure. In this figure, a three-point fixed lock arm 66 is formed on the upper wall surface 61a of the housing main body 61. One end 65a of the lock arm 66 stands from the engagement side, and the two other ends 65b and 65c of the lock arm 66 stand from the side of insertion of wire terminals (not shown). However, since the three ends 65a to 65c are fixed, the lock arm 66 does not bend enough. As a result, whether the connector is completely locked to the mating connector cannot be felt.